One of the things I’ve noticed an increase in over recent years is the immediate need to discuss a specific athlete’s legacy, his need for a ring and ultimately, how he compares, or will compare, to the greats that came before him.
I’ve mentioned before that this postseason might be the best goaltended playoffs we’ve ever seen, but three of the four starting goalies remaining don’t need to have their legacies discussed.
John Tortorella, presumably after finding out that there was no hockey to watch for two days.
While I don’t take for granted the exciting hockey we usually see in the Conference Finals and in the Stanley Cup Final, and while I’m aware that we have a Game 7 to look forward to on Saturday, I can’t help but feel just an ounce of emptyness as a hockey fan right now.
A much needed and well deserved water break
While I was sitting there watching Braden Holtby help the Capitals shut down the Rangers last night to force a Game 7 in their Eastern Conference semifinal, I started thinking about how it seems I’m raving about great goaltending to myself, friends, colleagues, family, etc. almost every night in these playoffs.
As the seconds ticked away in Nashville’s season, I was convinced that my short Cup of Joe spiel this morning would once again be Preds/Radulov/Kostitsyn/Trotz-related. But the closer the clock got to 0:00, the louder and crazier the Coyotes’ crowd got, to the point where like the Yotes themselves, the crowd simply became impossible to ignore.
The Los Angeles Kings are off to the Conference Finals for just the second time in franchise history, and the first time in 19 years. They’ve gotten there this year as the Western Conference’s No. 8 seed, and had to get through the West’s top two teams first.
But don’t you dare call them an “underdog.”
While football is considered a “game of inches,” it often amazes me how fine the line is between a common play and disaster in a game as quick and as powerful as pro hockey. Perhaps no play defines that fine line like this half collision between Anton Volchenkov and Matt Read during last night’s Devils/Flyers game.
Last week, I wrote about the fact that we hadn’t seen a triple-overtime playoff thriller in over two years. Well the streak ended in Washington on Wednesday night, where the Rangers and Capitals contested the 20th-longest game in NHL history before Marian Gaborik eventually ended things nearly five hours after puck drop.
Jo Innes, Ryan Lambert, Daniel Wagner, Cam Charron, Ellen Etchingham, Jake Goldsbie, Darren Kritzer
